THE scripture which above all others had
been both the foundation and central pillar of the advent faith was the declaration,
"Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be
cleansed." Dan. 8:14. These had been familiar words to all believers in the Lord's
soon coming. By the lips of thousands was this prophecy joyfully repeated as the watchword
of their faith. All felt that upon the events therein brought to view depended their
brightest expectations and most cherished hopes. These prophetic days had been shown to
terminate in the autumn of 1844. In common with the rest of the Christian world,
Adventists then held that the earth, or some portion of it, was the sanctuary, and that
the cleansing of the sanctuary was the purification of the earth by the fires of the last
great day. This they understood would take place at the second coming of Christ. Hence the
conclusion that Christ would return to the earth in 1844.

But the appointed time came,
and the Lord did not appear. The believers knew that God's Word could not fail; their
interpretation of the prophecy must be at fault; but where was the mistake? Many rashly
cut the knot of difficulty by denying that the 2300 days ended in 1844. No reason could be
given

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for this position, except that Christ had not come at the time of expectation. They
argued that if the prophetic days had ended in 1844, Christ would then have come to
cleanse the sanctuary by the purification of the earth by fire; and that since He had not
come, the days could not have ended.

Though the majority of
Adventists abandoned their former reckoning of the prophetic periods, and consequently
denied the correctness of the movement based thereon, a few were unwilling to renounce
points of faith and experience that were sustained by the Scriptures and by the special
witness of the Spirit of God. They believed that they had adopted sound principles of
interpretation in their study of the Scriptures, and that it was their duty to hold fast
the truths already gained, and to still pursue the same course of Biblical research. With
earnest prayer they reviewed their position, and studied the Scriptures to discover their
mistake. As they could see no error in their explanation of the prophetic periods, they
were led to examine more closely the subject of the sanctuary.

The
Earthly and Heavenly Sanctuaries

In their investigation they
learned that the earthly sanctuary, built by Moses at the command of God according to the
pattern shown him in the mount, was "a figure for the time then present, in which
were offered both gifts and sacrifices"; that its two holy places were "patterns
of things in the heavens"; that Christ, our great High Priest, is "a minister of
the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man"; that
"Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of
the true; but into heaven itself, now

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to appear in the presence of God for us." Heb.
9:9, 23; 8:2; 9:24.

The sanctuary in heaven, in
which Jesus ministers in our behalf, is the great original, of which the sanctuary built
by Moses was a copy. As the sanctuary on earth had two apartments, the holy and the most
holy, so there are two holy places in the sanctuary in heaven. And the ark containing the
law of God, the altar of incense, and other instruments of service found in the sanctuary
below, have also their counterpart in the sanctuary above. In holy vision the apostle John
was permitted to enter heaven, and he there beheld the candlestick and the altar of
incense, and as "the temple of God was opened," he beheld also "the ark of
His testament." Rev. 4:5; 8:3; 11:19.

Those who were seeking for
the truth found indisputable proof of the existence of a sanctuary in heaven. Moses made
the earthly sanctuary after a pattern which was shown him. Paul declared that that pattern
was the true sanctuary which is in heaven. (Heb. 8:2, 5.) John testified that he saw it in
heaven.

At the termination of the
2300 days, in 1844, no sanctuary had existed on earth for many centuries; therefore the
sanctuary in heaven must be the one brought to view in the declaration, "Unto two
thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." But how could
the sanctuary in heaven need cleansing? Turning again to the Scriptures, the students of
prophecy learned that the cleansing was not a removal of physical impurities, for it was
to be accomplished with blood, and therefore must be a cleansing from sin. Thus says the
apostle: "It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens
should be purified with these [the blood of animals]; but the heavenly things themselves

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with better sacrifices than these [even the precious blood of Christ]." Heb. 9:33.

To obtain a further knowledge
of the cleansing to which the prophecy points, it was necessary to understand the
ministration of the heavenly sanctuary. This could be learned only from the ministration
of the earthly sanctuary; for Paul declares that the priests who officiated there served
"unto the example and shadow of heavenly things." Heb. 8:5.

The
Cleansing of the Sanctuary

As the sins of the people
were anciently transferred, in figure, to the earthly sanctuary by the blood of the sin
offering, so our sins are, in fact, transferred to the heavenly sanctuary by the blood of
Christ. And as the typical cleansing of the earthly was accomplished by the removal of the
sins by which it had been polluted, so the actual cleansing of the heavenly is to be
accomplished by the removal, or blotting out, of the sins which are there recorded. This
necessitates an examination of the books of record to determine who, through repentance of
sin and faith in Christ, are entitled to the benefits of His atonement. The cleansing of
the sanctuary therefore involves a work of investigative judgment. This work must be
performed prior to the coming of Christ to redeem His people, for when He comes, His
reward is with Him to give to every man according to his works. (Rev. 22:12.)

Thus those who followed in
the advancing light of the prophetic word saw that instead of coming to the earth at the
termination of the 2300 days in 1844, Christ then entered the most holy place of the
heavenly sanctuary, into the presence of God, to perform the closing work of atonement,
preparatory to His coming.